Chemical Science Blog

Here are some of the latest referee-recommended articles published in Chemical Science – all are open access and free to download:

Improvement of enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay for the multicolor detection of biomarkers
Chao Li, Yucai Yang, Dan Wu, Tianqi Li, Yongmei Yin and Genxi Li
DOI: 10.1039/C5SC04256A, Edge Article

Small molecule regulated dynamic structural changes of human G-quadruplexes
Manish Debnath, Shirsendu Ghosh, Deepanjan Panda, Irene Bessi, Harald Schwalbe, Kankan Bhattacharyya and Jyotirmayee Dash
DOI: 10.1039/C6SC00057F, Edge Article

Overall water splitting by Pt/g-C₃N₄ photocatalysts without using sacrificial agents
Guigang Zhang, Zhi-An Lan, Lihua Lin, Sen Lin and Xinchen Wang
DOI: 10.1039/C5SC04572J, Edge Article

Highly selective catalytic trans-hydroboration of alkynes mediated by borenium cations and B(C₆F₅)₃
John S. McGough, Samuel M. Butler, Ian A. Cade and Michael J. Ingleson
DOI: 10.1039/C5SC04798F, Edge Article

Fatty acids’ double role in the prebiotic formation of a hydrophobic dipeptide
Sara Murillo-Sánchez, Damien Beaufils, Juan Manuel González Mañas, Robert Pascal and Kepa Ruiz-Mirazo
DOI: 10.1039/C5SC04796J, Edge Article

Carbogenic nanodots derived from organo-templated zeolites with modulated full-color luminescence
Ying Mu, Ning Wang, Zaicheng Sun, Jing Wang, Jiyang Li and Jihong Yu
DOI: 10.1039/C6SC00085A, Edge Article

An international team of scientists has developed a new glove-based sensor for detecting cocaine quickly and easily. The device could benefit security staff in ports and airports who need on-the-spot results.

Building the fingertip sensor into a wearable nitrile glove makes it easy to use

You can read the full article in Chemistry World»

Read the original journal article in Chemical Science – it’s open access:
Electrochemical fingerprint of street samples for fast on-site screening of cocaine in seized drug powders
Mats de Jong, Nick Sleegers, Jayoung Kim, Filip Van Durme, Nele Samyn, Joseph Wang and Karolien De Wael 
DOI: 10.1039/C5SC04309C, Edge Article

Almost 40 years after Schrock and Clark’s synthesis of a tungsten ‘yl-ene-yne’ complex in 1978, scientists in the US have made the first nitrogen analogue: a chromium nitrido–imido–amido complex.

Read more in Chemistry World, or read the original journal article in Chemical Science.

A complex with nitrogen single, double, and triple bonds to the same chromium atom: synthesis, structure, and reactivity
E P Beaumier et al, Chem. Sci., 2016, DOI: 10.1039/c5sc04608d

Take a look at this selection of recently published referee-recommended articles – all are open access and free to read:

Latent harmony in dicarbon between VB and MO theories through orthogonal hybridization of 3σ_g and 2σ_u
Ronglin Zhong, Min Zhang, Hongliang Xu and Zhongmin Su
DOI: 10.1039/C5SC03437J, Edge Article

Rational design of a water-soluble, lipid-compatible fluorescent probe for Cu(I) with sub-part-per-trillion sensitivity
M. T. Morgan, A. M. McCallum and C. J. Fahrni
DOI: 10.1039/C5SC03643G, Edge Article

Targeting antioxidant pathways with ferrocenylated N-heterocyclic carbene supported gold(I) complexes in A549 lung cancer cells
J. F. Arambula, R. McCall, K. J. Sidoran, D. Magda, N. A. Mitchell, C. W. Bielawski, V. M. Lynch, J. L. Sessler and K. Arumugam
DOI: 10.1039/C5SC03519H, Edge Article

Mesoporous Pt nanospheres with designed pore surface as highly active electrocatalyst
Bo Jiang, Cuiling Li, Victor Malgras, Masataka Imura, Satoshi Tominaka and Yusuke Yamauchi
DOI: 10.1039/C5SC03779D, Edge Article

Many Mg–Mg bonds form the core of the Mg₁₆Cp^*₈Br₄K cluster anion: the key to a reassessment of the Grignard reagent (GR) formation process?
T. Kruczyński, F. Henke, M. Neumaier, K. H. Bowen and H. Schnöckel
DOI: 10.1039/C5SC03914B, Edge Article

Thermodynamic synthesis of solution processable ladder polymers
Jongbok Lee, Bharath Bangalore Rajeeva, Tianyu Yuan, Zi-Hao Guo, Yen-Hao Lin, Mohammed Al-Hashimi, Yuebing Zheng and Lei Fang
DOI: 10.1039/C5SC02385H, Edge Article

*Access is free through a registered RSC account

In the congested intracellular environment, scientists in the Netherlands and the US have found a way for molecules to manoeuvre through the crowds and arrive at their destination faster, increasing the efficiency of lengthy laboratory processes, such as polymerase chain reactions (PCRs).

Biomolecules must find and associate with other biomolecules to carry out basic processes within a cell. To do so, many will randomly diffuse within the cell’s three-dimensional space, which is very time-consuming. Some proteins have evolved to glide along DNA and sample positions in a one-dimensional fashion in search of their target, akin to driving down a highway and stopping to sightsee along the way. This has the potential to speed up these processes. Read the full article in Chemistry World»

Read the original journal article in Chemical Science – it’s open access and free to read:
Speeding up biomolecular interactions by molecular sledding
Alexander Turkin, Lei Zhang, Alessio Marcozzi, Walter F. Mangel, Andreas Herrmann and Antoine M. van Oijen
DOI: 10.1039/C5SC03063C, Edge Article

Eucalyptus bears both catalyst and biofuel
by Elisabeth Ratcliffe 

Leftovers from the catalytic conversion of biomass into biofuels and biochemicals need not go to waste. So say Japanese researchers who have devised a method using eucalyptus trees that regenerates residue from the process into fresh catalyst. Read the full  article in Chemistry World» 

Read the original journal article in Chemical Science:
Hydrolysis of woody biomass by a biomass-derived reusable heterogeneous catalyst
Hirokazu Kobayashi, Hiroyuki Kaiki, Abhijit Shrotri, Kota Techikawara and Atsushi Fukuoka
DOI: 10.1039/C5SC03377B, Edge Article 

Add more peroxide to stabilise new drug molecules
by Michaela Muehlberg 

Scientists in the US and Russia have performed theoretical calculations to better understand the well-known instability of peroxides as well as the astonishing higher stability of bis- and tris-peroxides. For the latter, they found that multiple O–O bonds appear to exert a stabilising stereoelectronic effect on each other, which boosts stability. Read the full article in Chemistry World» 

Read the original journal article in Chemical Science:
Stereoelectronic source of the anomalous stability of bis-peroxides
Gabriel dos Passos Gomes, Vera Vil’, Alexander Terent’ev and Igor V. Alabugin
DOI: 10.1039/C5SC02402A, Edge Article

Gold cluster bends between two isomers
by Sage Bowser

Collaborating research groups in the US and China have observed a rare type of isomerism in a gas phase Au2I3– cluster. The cluster exhibits two stable structures with the same electronic configuration and potential energy surface that vary in only their Au–I–Au bond angles, a phenomenon that the researchers have dubbed ‘bond-bending isomerism’. Read the full article in Chemistry World» 

Read the original journal article in Chemical Science:
Bond-bending isomerism of Au₂I₃⁻: competition between covalent bonding and aurophilicity
Wan-Lu Li, Hong-Tao Liu, Tian Jian, Gary V. Lopez, Zachary A. Piazza, Dao-Ling Huang, Teng-Teng Chen, Jing Su, Ping Yang, Xin Chen, Lai-Sheng Wang and Jun Li
DOI: 10.1039/C5SC03568F, Edge Article